The inaugural 1932 RAC Rally started from nine different towns across Britain, with 341 competitors driving unmodified cars to Torquay. Over the following decades the format evolved from a navigational treasure hunt into a genuine driving test, the pivotal moment arriving in 1960 when organiser Jack Kemsley negotiated access to a two-mile gravel forestry road named Monument Hill in Argyll, Scotland. Erik Carlsson won that edition without penalty points and co-driver Stuart Turner declared Monument Hill the moment the RAC Rally shifted from road navigation to the modern special-stage format.
By 1965 the event encompassed over 400 miles across 57 special stages, mostly in forests across England, Scotland and Wales. The rally acquired title sponsorship from 1970 onward, first from the Daily Mirror newspaper, then from finance company Lombard North Central from 1974. The Lombard RAC Rally became synonymous with the event for nearly two decades. Network Q then held naming rights from the mid-1990s before the Welsh Assembly Government stepped in as title sponsor from 2003, locking the rally into South and North Wales as its permanent home.
When commercial rights holder David Richards overhauled the WRC in 2000, Rally GB shed its country-touring tradition and concentrated competitive mileage into the Welsh forests. The Cardiff Docks hosted a head-to-head super-special stage and, from 2005, the Millennium Stadium staged a remarkable indoor super-special. Service was condensed to a single central park and stages were often double-run in a cloverleaf format, reducing dead road sections and making the event far more television-friendly.
British forest stages feature relatively high average speeds on roads with a hard base and minimal loose surface material, though seldom reaching the flat-out pace of Scandinavia. Road widths vary considerably: North Wales lanes are narrow and technical while South Wales tracks are wider and faster. Kielder stages in Northumberland tend to be rougher and heavily cambered toward the edges.
Rain is all but guaranteed when the rally runs in November, and wet, muddy conditions have long defined the event's character. Ice and snow are not uncommon — the 2008 edition required stage cancellations and shortenings due to heavy ice — and studded tyres are banned by the Forestry Commission to protect the road surfaces, adding further jeopardy. Double world champion Walter Röhrl was among several top drivers who openly disliked the rally's conditions.
The 1967 event was cancelled on its eve due to a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, leading competitors to stage a consolation mock rally at the Bagshot proving ground. The 1986 edition was the last European WRC round for Group B cars, with Peugeot 205 T16 Evo 2s dominating the podium in machines that would be banned the following season as too dangerous. The event's worst attrition came in 1981 when only 54 of 151 starters reached the finish, compared to just 6 retirements from 237 starters in 1938.
The 2005 rally was overshadowed by tragedy when Peugeot co-driver Michael Park died after a heavy crash on stage fifteen, the first fatality in the WRC in over a decade. Sébastien Loeb, who would otherwise have won, voluntarily took a two-minute penalty out of respect, ceding victory to Petter Solberg.
The rally was the traditional season finale and staged numerous championship showdowns. In 1995 an estimated two million fans lined the forests to watch Colin McRae claim his first and only world title. The 1998 edition produced one of the most dramatic title deciders in the sport's history: championship leader Tommi Mäkinen crashed out after his car hit a patch of oil, apparently gifting the title to Carlos Sainz, before Sainz's engine failed 300 metres from the last stage finish line, handing the championship back to Mäkinen. In 2003 Petter Solberg beat Loeb by a single point to claim his sole world title after Burns was forced to withdraw due to illness and Sainz crashed out.
Nordic drivers dominated the record books. Sébastien Ogier holds the all-time wins record with five victories between 2013 and 2018, overtaking the four victories each of Hannu Mikkola and Petter Solberg.
The last planned Wales Rally GB was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Welsh Government withdrew sponsorship support and successive attempts to stage a Rally UK or Rally Northern Ireland in subsequent years all failed. Rally GB was replaced by the Belgian Ypres Rally on the 2021 WRC calendar and did not return to any calendar through to the 2026 season. Following a six-year absence, Rally GB was resurrected as Rally Scotland for the 2027 season.
Two heritage events keep the rally's classic stages alive: the RAC Revival Rally for modern but lower-powered cars, and the Roger Albert Clark Rally, a historic event for pre-1972 machinery named after the first home winner of the race as a World Championship round.